Privacy Policy & Collection Statement

1. INTRODUCTION

Holley Nethercote Pty Ltd ACN 068 367 046 trading as Holley Nethercote Lawyers, Holley Nethercote Compliance, including the HN Hub (collectively ‘Holley Nethercote’, ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’) is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (‘the Privacy Act’), including the Australian Privacy Principles (‘APPs’).  Holley Nethercote recognises the importance of ensuring the confidentiality and security of your Personal Information.

To the extent that it is necessary to do so, Holley Nethercote also complies with the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) as adopted by EU Member States.[i]  The APPs and the GDPR Policy share many common requirements.  Where an obligation imposed by the APPs and the GDPR are the same, but the terminology is different, Holley Nethercote will comply with the terminology and wording used in the APPs, and this will constitute Holley Nethercote’s compliance with the equivalent obligations in the GDPR.

If the GDPR imposes an obligation on Holley Nethercote that is not imposed by the APPs, or the GDPR obligation is more onerous than the equivalent obligation in the APPs, Holley Nethercote will comply with the GDPR (see Annexure A).

All third parties (including clients, suppliers, sub-contractors, or agents) that have access to or use Personal Information collected and held by Holley Nethercote, must abide by this Privacy Policy and Collection Statement (‘Privacy Policy’).

In this Privacy Policy:

  • AML/CTF Obligations means our obligations as a reporting entity enrolled with the AUSTRAC, as set out in the AML/CTF Legislation, including collecting your Personal Information to meet our legal requirements.
  • AML/CTF Legislation means the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) (AML/CTF Act) and the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2025 (Cth), as amended from time to time.
  • AUSTRAC means Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.
  • Australian Privacy Principles means the principles set out in schedule 1 of the Privacy Act.
  • Business Day means any day of the week except a Saturday, Sunday or a day which is an official public holiday in Melbourne or Sydney.
  • Cookies means small text files that are transferred to a user’s computer hard drive by websites for the purpose of storing information about a user’s identity, browser type, or websites visiting patterns.
  • Disclosure of information means providing information to persons outside of Holley Nethercote.
  • Personal information means information or an opinion relating to an individual, which can be used to identify that individual.
  • Privacy Act means the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as amended from time to time.
  • Privacy Officer means the contact person within Holley Nethercote for questions or complaints regarding Holley Nethercote’s handling of Personal Information.
  • Sensitive information is Personal Information that includes information relating to a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade union or other professional or trade association membership, sexual preferences, and criminal record, and also includes health information.
  • Suspicious Matter Report means a report that we are required to submit to AUSTRAC if a suspicious matter reporting obligation arises as defined in section 41 of the AML/CTF Act.
  • Tipping off prohibition means the prohibition under the AML/CTF Act on disclosing to a person that we have lodged, are required to lodge, or have prepared, a Suspicious Matter Report to lodge with AUSTRAC, or other information prohibited to be disclosed under the AML/CTF Legislation, where such disclosure would or could reasonably be expected to prejudice a criminal investigation.
  • Use of information means use of information within Holley Nethercote.
  • Websites means hnlaw.com.au and hnhub.com.au
  • You means an individual in respect of whom we have collected and hold Personal Information, or intend to do so.

2. WHAT KINDS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOLD?

We may collect and hold Personal Information from you and other individuals that is reasonably necessary:

  • to provide you with our services
  • for us to carry out one or more of our functions or activities, or
  • to enable us to comply with our legal obligations (which include our AML/CTF Obligations).

The Personal Information we may collect for these purposes include your::

  • full name and contact details
  • date of birth
  • employer, employment history, and professional memberships
  • references
  • bank account and credit card details
  • occupation
  • details of your identification documents or government identifiers, such as your driver’s licence and passport
  • financial information, including details of:
    • your income, assets, investments and properties
    • ABN/ACN
  • areas of interest in legal and compliance developments
  • attendance at any training events we have run; and
  • any other information relevant to the services we provide.

3. HOW DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We generally collect Personal Information directly from you in the course of providing you or your employer with our legal or compliance services, compliance support through our HN Hub or any other of our products, or when a client instructs us to collect information on their behalf.

For example, Personal Information will be collected through our processes, forms and other interactions with you in the course of providing you with our products and services, including when you visit the Website, call or meet with us, or send us correspondence.  Generally, information we collect from the Website is provided intentionally by you, such as when you purchase a product, register your details on the Website, or send us a query.

We may also collect Personal Information about you through publicly available sources, from a third party, such as electronic verification services, debt collectors, government regulators or accountants.  If so, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of this Privacy Policy.  We may also use third parties to analyse traffic at our websites, which may involve the use of ‘cookies’.  Information collected through such analysis is anonymous.

Holley Nethercote will not collect sensitive information about you without your consent unless an exemption in the APPs applies.  These exceptions include if the collection is required or authorised by law, or is necessary to take appropriate action in relation to suspected unlawful activity or serious misconduct.

If the Personal Information we request is not provided by you, we may not be able to meet our legal obligations, provide you with the benefit of our services, or meet your needs appropriately.

Holley Nethercote does not give you the option of dealing with us anonymously, or using a pseudonym.  This is because it is illegal or impractical for Holley Nethercote to deal with individuals who are not identified.  We are also obligated under AML/CTF Legislation to identify who we are dealing with for certain matters.

4. UNSOLICITED PERSONAL INFORMATION

Holley Nethercote may receive unsolicited Personal Information about you.  If this occurs, we will comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act.  We destroy or de-identify all unsolicited Personal Information we receive, unless it is relevant to Holley Nethercote’s purposes for collecting Personal Information.  We may retain additional information we receive about you if it is combined with other information we are required or entitled to collect.  If we do this, we will retain the information in the same way we hold your other Personal Information.  We may de-identify and/or destroy this information unless we are required to keep it by law.

5. WHO DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT?

The Personal Information we may collect and hold includes (but is not limited to) Personal Information about:

  • clients and potential clients, their employees or other representatives
  • visitors to our websites, when making general enquiries, we may collect data such as the user’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection
  • service providers or suppliers
  • beneficiaries of trusts and estates administered by our clients
  • individuals with a connection to a client or potential client (for example, an officeholder or ultimate beneficial owner of a corporate client or potential client, or of its related entities), and
  • prospective employees, employees and contractors; and
  • other third parties with whom we or our clients come into contact.

6. WEBSITE COLLECTION AND COOKIES

We collect Personal Information when we receive completed online generated forms from our websites – www.hnlaw.com.au and hnhub.com.au.  We may also use third parties to analyse traffic at those websites, which may involve the use of cookies.  Information collected through such analysis is anonymous.

To use our websites, you must consent to our use of cookies.  You can withdraw or modify your consent to our use of cookies at any time.  If you no longer wish to receive cookies, you can use your web browser settings to accept, refuse and delete cookies.  To do this, follow the instructions provided by your browser.  Please note that if you set your browser to refuse cookies, you may not be able to use some the features of our websites.

Cookies do not contain Personal Information in themselves, but can be used to identify a person when combined with other information.  Cookies are small text files which are transferred to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser that enables our websites to recognise your browser and capture and remember certain information.  This includes facilitating your use of previously viewed pages on our websites, as well as saving your login details to use our HN Hub.

We also use cookies to understand how users interact with our websites, to compile aggregate data about our websites traffic, including where our websites visitors are located, and interaction so that we can offer better user experiences.

We also use analytics on the site.  We do not pass any personally identifiable information through this function, however, the data we collect may be combined with other information which may be identifiable to you.

As we use websites cookies, and are required to comply with the GDPR, we have a created a ‘pop up’ message on our websites, which states:

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website, including for analytics and personalised content.  By using this website, you agree to the use of cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy. [OK]

If you visit our login page on the HN Hub, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies.  This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices.  Login cookies last for thirty days and screen options cookies last for a year.  If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

Click stream data

When you visit and browse our Website, our Website host may collect Personal Information for statistical, reporting, and maintenance purposes. Personal Information collected by our Website host will not be used to identify you.  The information may include:

  • your visit to our Website and the number of pages viewed
  • the date, time, and duration of a visit
  • the IP address of your computer; or
  • the path taken through our Website.

Holley Nethercote’s websites host uses this information to administer and improve the performance of our Website, including to assist with the diagnoses of and to provide support for any issues with our Website or services.

7. WHY DO WE COLLECT AND HOLD PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We collect Personal Information so that we can provide our services and carry out the necessary functions to enable us to provide those services, including complying with the law.

We may use and disclose the information we collect about you for the following purposes:

  • complying with our legal and regulatory obligations (including, but not limited to, our AML/CTF Obligations)
  • providing you with our legal services and compliance products or services
  • reviewing and meeting your ongoing needs
  • providing you with information that might be of interest to you
  • letting you know about other products or services we offer
  • sending you information about special offers or invite you to events
  • considering any concerns or complaints you may have
  • compling with relevant laws, regulations and other legal obligations; and
  • helping us improve the products and services offered to our clients and enhance our overall business.

We may use and disclose your Personal Information for any of these purposes.  We may also use and disclose your Personal Information for secondary purposes which are related to the primary purposes set out above, or in other circumstances authorised by the Privacy Act.

Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided (or a directly related secondary purpose), unless you agree otherwise, or an exemption in the Privacy Act applies.

8. WHO MIGHT WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION TO?

We may disclose your Personal Information to:

  • a related entity of Holley Nethercote
  • other parties you have engaged (or we have engaged on your behalf) or that we are associated with, such as barristers, consultants, and business associates
  • agents, professional advisers or service providers we engage to carry out our functions and activities, such as our lawyers, accountants, insurers, mercantile agents, technology providers (including AI service providers), websites analytics and spam detection service providers and couriers
  • organisations involved in managing our payments, including payment merchants and financial institutions, such as banks
  • regulatory bodies, government agencies, law enforcement bodies and courts
  • an opposing law firm or solicitor
  • organisations involved in a transfer or sale of all or part of our assets or business
  • others you have authorised us to disclose it to, or as required by law.

If we disclose your Personal Information to service providers that perform business activities for us, they may only use your Personal Information for the specific purpose for which we supply it.  We will ensure that all contractual arrangements with third parties adequately address privacy issues, and we will make third parties aware of this Privacy Policy.

When disclosing Personal Information about an individual, we ensure that we will not breach the Tipping off prohibition.

9. THE USE OF AUTOMATED DECISION-MAKING (INCLUDING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)

We may use automated processes, including algorithms, data analytics tools and artificial intelligence tools, to assist in making decisions and carrying out activities in connection with our business. These processes may involve the use of your Personal Information to:

  • support administrative functions, including account management and reporting;
  • tailor communications, including marketing updates, based on your preferences and interactions with us.

Where automated processes are used by us, they support human decision-making (ie. human-in-the-loop) and are not solely determinative of outcomes that significantly affect you.   If we decide to implement tools that make automated decisions, where the decision could reasonably be expected to significantly affect the rights or interest of an individual, we will update this Privacy Policy.

10. SENDING INFORMATION OVERSEAS

We may disclose Personal Information to overseas recipients, including cloud, technology, verification, analytics, support and professional service providers. Where practicable, we will identify the countries in which those recipients are likely to be located. At the date of this policy, those countries may include the United States.

We will not send Personal Information to recipients outside of Australia unless:

  • we have taken reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient does not breach the Privacy Act, or the APPs; or
  • the recipient is subject to a similar information privacy regime, similar to the Privacy Act; or
  • the individual has consented to the disclosure.

If you consent to your Personal Information being disclosed to an overseas recipient, and the recipient breaches the APPs, we will not be accountable for that breach under the Privacy Act, and you will not be able to seek redress under the Privacy Act.

11. HOW WE HOLD YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Holley Nethercote recognises the importance of securing Personal Information.  We take steps to ensure your Personal Information is protected from misuse, interference or loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

12. DIRECT MARKETING

We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our services, opportunities, or events that we consider may be of interest to you.  These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS, and email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).

Holley Nethercote may only use Personal Information we collect from you for the purposes of direct marketing without your consent if:

  • the Personal Information does not include sensitive information
  • you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose the information for the purpose of direct marketing
  • we provide a simple way of opting out of direct marketing; and
  • you have not requested to opt out of receiving direct marketing from us.

If we collect Personal Information about you from a third party, we will only use that information for the purposes of direct marketing if you have consented (or it is impracticable to obtain your consent), and we will provide a simple means by which you can easily request not to receive direct marketing communications from us, for example, through an ‘unsubscribe’ button or by emailing us to notify us directly.  We will draw your attention to the fact you may make such a request in our direct marketing communications.

You have the right to request us not to use or disclose your Personal Information for the purposes of direct marketing, or for the purposes of facilitating direct marketing by other organisations.  We must give effect to the request within a reasonable period of time.  You may also request that we provide you with the source of the information.  If such a request is made, we must notify you of the source of the information free of charge within a reasonable period of time.

13. IDENTIFIERS

We do not adopt identifiers assigned by the Government (such as driver’s licence numbers) for our own file recording purposes, unless one of the exemptions in the Privacy Act applies.

14. HOW DO WE KEEP PERSONAL INFORMATION ACCURATE AND UP-TO-DATE?

We are committed to ensuring that the Personal Information we collect, hold, use and disclose is relevant, accurate, complete and up-to-date.

We encourage you to contact us if any Personal Information we hold about you needs to be updated.  For users that register for our HN Hub, we store your Personal Information provided in your user profile and our secure database.  All users can see, edit or delete their Personal Information at any time (except the username).  Website administrators also have access to view and edit such information.  If we correct any Personal Information that has previously been disclosed to another APP entity, we will take reasonable steps to notify the other APP entity of the correction, unless it is impracticable or unlawful to do so.  Where we are satisfied information is inaccurate, we will take reasonable steps to correct the information within 30 days, unless you agree otherwise.  We will not charge you for correcting your Personal Information.

We retain Personal Information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to provide services, comply with legal, professional, regulatory, insurance, audit, accounting and AML/CTF obligations, resolve disputes and maintain business records. When we no longer need personal information, and are not required or permitted by law to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it. We have legal obligations in some circumstances to retain records for at least 7 years, in which case we cannot the relevant Personal Information before then.

15. ACCESSING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Subject to exceptions in the Privacy Act, you can access the Personal Information that we hold about you by contacting our Privacy Officer.  We will generally provide access within 30 days of your request.  If we refuse to provide you with access to the information, we will provide reasons for the refusal.

We will require identity verification and specification of what information is required.  An administrative fee for search and photocopying costs may be charged for providing access.

For users who have registered to the HN Hub via our websites, you can access your user profile and edit or delete any Personal Information contained there.  You can also request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, or any user comments left on our websites, including any data you have provided to us.  You can request that we erase any personal data we hold about you.  (Note, this does not include any data we are obliged to keep for, legal, or security purposes.)

16. EMBEDDED CONTENT FROM OTHER WEBSITES

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.).  Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other websites.

These websites may collect data about you, use of cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to those websites.

17. UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy will be reviewed from time-to-time to take account of new laws and technology, and changes to our operations and the business environment.

18. NOTIFIABLE DATA BREACHES

We maintain a data breach response process. Where we suspect unauthorised access, disclosure or loss of Personal Information, we will take steps to contain and assess the incident.

If a breach is likely to result in serious harm and is an ‘eligible data breach’, we will comply with our obligations under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, including notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner where required.

19. MAKING A COMPLAINT / INCIDENTS / COMPLAINTS HANDLING

We have an effective complaints handling process in place to manage privacy risks and issues. The complaints handling process involves:

  • identifying (and addressing) any systemic/ongoing compliance problems;
  • publishing our privacy procedures; and
  • helping to build and preserve our reputation and business.

We will acknowledge privacy complaints within a reasonable time, investigate the issue, and aim to provide a written response within 30 days. If we need more time, we will let you know.

You can make a complaint to us about the treatment or handling of your Personal Information by lodging a complaint with the Privacy Officer.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to make a complaint about how we have handled your Personal Information, you can lodge a complaint with us by:

  • telephoning – +61 3 9670 8200
  • writing – Holley Nethercote Privacy Officer, 22/140 William Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
  • emailing – [email protected]

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you can also refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by:

20. YOUR RIGHTS

This Privacy Policy contains information about how:

  • you may access the Personal Information we hold about you;
  • you may seek the correction of your Personal Information;
  • you may ask us to provide an alternative means of identity verification for the purposes of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth);
  • you may complain about a breach of the Privacy Act, including the APPs; and
  • we will deal with a privacy complaint.

ANNEXURE A: GDPR

The following are key terms used in the GDPR which are not used in the APPs:

Controller means the natural or legal person which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.  (This is an APP entity under the Privacy Act).

Data Subject means an identified or Identifiable Natural Person.  (This is an individual under the Privacy Act.)

Identifiable Natural Person means one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.  (This is an individual under the Privacy Act.)

Personal data means any information relating to a Data Subject.  (This is similar to Personal Information under the Privacy Act.)

Processing means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptions or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.  (There is no single concept in the Privacy Act that is equivalent.  The Privacy Act uses concepts of “collection”, “use” and “disclosure”.)

Processor means a natural or legal person, or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.  (There is no direct equivalent concept in the Privacy Act other than references to “third parties” who deal with Personal Information on behalf of or for an APP entity.)